Orchard Park, N.Y. (WBEN) - The Buffalo Bills got a much-needed jolt of good news on Thursday.
Head coach Sean McDermott and his team found out that safety Damar Hamlin has made remarkable progress in his recovery since his heart stopped during Monday night’s game.
In three days since the Bills were left emotionally devastated as they watched their teammate collapse on the field in Cincinnati, the team’s motto has gone from “Pray for Damar” to “Play for Damar.”
It was a pretty quick response from the Bills' medical staff and team doctors to recognize the extent of the situation, as other medical professionals in Cincinnati that night went to work resuscitating the 24-year-old in short order.
After several minutes on the field administering life-saving CPR and needing the use of an AED, personnel were able to restore Hamlin's heartbeat and get him transported to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he was sedated and listed in critical condition in the intensive care unit.
For the first time since Monday's incident, players on the Bills addressed their experiences on the field that night, as they struggled to watch their teammate and brother fighting for his life.
"The scene just replays over-and-over in your head. It's hard to actually describe how I felt, how my teammates felt in that moment," said Bills quarterback Josh Allen while sitting next to head coach Sean McDermott in Orchard Park on Thursday. "It's something we'll never forget."
"It was one of those things that we were kind of writing the script on as you went. Everyone had different sorts of information. It was kind of chaos at any given moment," said Bills center Mitch Morse sitting alongside cornerback Dane Jackson.
After the ambulance carrying Hamlin had exited the playing field, there were certainly plenty of questions as to whether or not the game was going to continue on after the wave of emotions that overcame the players, especially on the Buffalo sidelines.
"After Damar got loaded into the ambulance, I remember thinking to myself, 'We're gonna need some time.' We being the Bills, at least," said McDermott of the situation unfolding on the field at the time. "We're so conditioned to a player is taken off the field, who is injured, to going right back into that mode. I said to Shawn Smith, 'Hey, we're gonna need some time here.' He was tremendous. Then I remember going back to our sideline, had a conversation with [defensive coordinator] Leslie Frazier. I can't even remember what Leslie said, but he was a help as well, and then I went back to Shawn and said, 'I don't feel good about this,' or something to that effect. He was gonna go talk to Zac, Zac comes over - I think as Zac has recounted since that point in time - and then the league was involved, and the league helped in this way, as well, saying, 'It's OK to go back in your locker rooms.' So we headed that direction."
Once finally back in the locker room, it was a chance for the coaches and players to really get a good grasp of how the group felt about stepping back onto the field and possibly continue play.
"We were in the front of our locker room, not quite out in the hallway at that point, but having conversations amongst ourselves," McDermott explained. "I think I went in and addressed the team and just felt like overall, it was going to be really hard to put them back out there, but I wanted to give them the option to go back out there if they wanted to. And led by Josh and a couple of the other captains, they decided not to go back out there."
"When we were able to get that locker room, I think a lot of things happened," Morse recalled. "One was we're able to collect ourselves and help each other out in the confines of that locker room, and also have the whole team in a confined space that we could have discussions, conversations, not only between ourselves, but then coach putting us in a position to, ultimately, make a decision. I just think there was no way in hell that we were ready to go out there and play a game. ... We were very thankful for that opportunity, and to collectively come together and do that."
During his press conference with the Cincinnati media on Wednesday, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor spoke very highly of McDermott and the way he led his team in such a difficult circumstance.
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Taylor's sentiment about McDermott's handling of Hamlin's medical emergency and the moments that followed were echoed by the players on Thursday. This included Allen, who believes no one could have reacted to what had played out better than the sixth-year head coach in Buffalo.
"He was the perfect man in that situation to handle that type of situation. I can't say enough about what he did, what he said to us in the locker room," Allen said. "Obviously, just a dire circumstance that nobody's expecting, nobody's ready for. You can never put yourself in that situation until it happens. I want to thank our training staff for going out there, not knowing what's going on but going through a checklist, working as a single-cell symbiont and saving his life. Being on that field, you lose sleep, you hurt for your brother. A lot of shared grief, but getting updates, and positive updates eases so much of that pain and that tension that you feel. But coach handled it as perfect as anybody could."
On the flip side, McDermott commended Taylor and the Bengals for not only their support on and off the field in that moment, but also for their understanding of what taking place and their decision to not step back on the field to continue play.
"The NFL is such a competitive league and games are so competitive. You spend all week preparing to beat each other. As fast as that was unfolding in those situations; you prepare for things to go wrong in the game as you visualize the game unfolding just so you're ready, but they're not of that nature. They're on the field, they're schematic challenges and whatnot. So as competitive as this league is, Zac quickly recognized the situation," McDermott said. "When you can engage with the opposing coach - Zac and I were on the same page - so quickly there, it was amazing how compassionate Zac was and his players. Their captains came down to our locker room and met with our team and captains. Just an amazing show of compassion, empathy, love. It's just so amazing, because minutes before that, we were going at each other. So my hat goes off to Zac and the Bengals."
When reflecting on the way he handled the situation with his team and in the following days leading up to Thursday, McDermott feels for his players and every emotion they may have felt in the moment and beyond. That is why he stresses so hard on being able to manage his team and keeping their mental well-being a top priority in order to help everyone cope with the satiation.
"Mental health is real, and I think as a coach and as leaders of organizations - No. 1, Terry Pegula does a great job of leading in that regard for us - but the job description of a coach is not just coaching X's and O's. It's much more than that," he said. "To me, the health and well-being of your staff and your players is the No. 1 job of a coach in this situation, so that includes mental health."
Just two days after their game on Monday, the team was able to get an encouraging Zoom call from Damar's dad, Mario, with an update on Damar that the team has been not only been waiting for, but also needed going forward.
"Really his message was the team needs to get back to focusing on the goals that they had set for themselves. Damar would have wanted it that way, and I'm paraphrasing," McDermott said. "That includes our game against New England [Patriots] this week. I think that has helped."
"From a player's view and hearing Mario talk to us, the words of encouragement that he had for us; I had the chance actually to talk to him Monday night, and the only thing you said was, 'My son's gonna be alright,'" Allen added.
Then on Thursday, the Bills, Western New York and the rest of the football world finally got the news everyone was hoping to see.
The team released a brief statement Thursday, saying Hamlin had shown "remarkable improvement" over the past 24 hours, and that he appears to be "neurologically intact" with the abilities to move his arms and legs. He was awake, and even able to communicate with paper and pencil with family, doctors and other personnel on-hand at UC Medical Center.
"To know that Damar's doing OK - I know there's still a lot of things and stuff that he has to process and continue to go through to get back to himself - we heard that news this morning, and there's nothing that could have been told to us to bring our day down. We're extremely happy for him and his family," Allen said. "We just want to love up on him. So the next chance we get, I don't know when it's going to be, if we get to see him anytime soon, it's going to be awesome."
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"I just know what type of person he is. He's a true warrior, he's a fighter," said Jackson of one of his best friends and teammates dating back to their college days at the University of Pittsburgh. "He's always going to come out with some type of joke or whatever, no matter how severe the situation is. He always has a joke. I know the first thing he'll say to me when he get back is something crazy. I just know it. I can't wait for it, honestly. That's what I'm really waiting for."
According to doctors, one of the first questions he asked after waking up from his medically-induced coma Wednesday night was about the game that he thought had finished on Monday night. After asking if the Bills had won on Monday, doctors had responded, "Yes, Damar, you won. You’ve won the game of life."
According to Hamlin's teammates on Thursday, that question being asked came as no surprise when they were given the update of his status.
"His dad said the first thing that he's going to ask when he wakes up is, 'Who won the game?' And sure enough, that's what he did," Allen said. "As teammates, you love hearing that response. The first thing on his mind wasn't, 'Poor me.' It was, 'How are my teammates doing? Did we win this game?' That's powerful in itself.
"I don't think people really understand the bond and the relationship and the brotherhood that you have as an NFL team, especially this one here. Guys love each other, we really do. And for, obviously, Damar to go through that and to come out on the other side and still, again, just think about his teammates, that's Damar. That's who he is, though."
As Hamlin continues to recover from his medical emergency suffered the other night in Cincinnati, it was earlier this season when Jackson had his own medical scare during a Week 2 matchup with the Tennessee Titans in Orchard Park. During the game, he was hit in the head and neck area by teammate Tremaine Edmunds while making a tackle. The force of the hit forced Jackson to be taken off the field in an ambulance and taken to Erie County Medical Center.
Luckily for Jackson, the 26-year-old only missed one game due to his neck injury before he was able to return to game action.
As it turns out, it was Hamlin who was, perhaps, Jackson's biggest supporter right after the injury took place on the field. The third-year cornerback remembers that situation vividly with what his longtime teammate said to him.
"I just remember as they were putting me into the ambulance, him saying. 'I love you D-Jack!' I just remembered that distinct voice. The whole team was saying it, but I just remember that distinct voice in my head, and that replayed with me on the whole way to the hospital," Jackson recalled. "So just the bond we have, I look at pictures now to this day, I see him standing right there literally hovering over me as I'm getting carted off. It just goes to show you the type of bond me and him have, and just how we're always there for each other."
With the team now knowing the good news pertaining to the health of their teammate, the focus now must turn towards Sunday's regular season finale against the Patriots at Highmark Stadium. With a win over New England and with some help on Saturday from the Las Vegas Raiders against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Bills still have a chance to wrap up the No. 1 seed in the AFC with a win.
Heading into the week right after Monday's incident took place with Hamlin, there was some potential concern about players around the league not wanting to take to the field to play, as a sign of respect for Hamlin. However, Allen points back to the conversation the team had with Hamlin's dad on Wednesday, saying that it would be Damar who would want his teammates to get back to work as per usual.
"Mario talking to us as a team, and the things that he told us - really didn't tell us, he demanded us - you can't not honor his request to go out there and charge forward to the best of our abilities," Allen said. "Obviously, we'll be playing with, I guess, less heavy hearts now, knowing that today's news was a lot of tears of joy, I'll tell you that. But to know that's what he wants, that's what his dad wants, I think guys are excited to get out there."
As for Sunday's game at Highmark Stadium, the players and coaching staff alike know it may be an environment that this stadium has not experienced in some time.
"Knowing our fan base and the connection that we have and they have with us, I think it's going to be very emotional for everyone in the stadium, and I think it's going to be unlike anything I've ever seen before," McDermott said. "We're going to have to balance some of that in order to perform the way we need to perform. We've spent a number of games this season away, kind of ironically enough, and this is going to be really good timing, if there is good timing in any of this, for us to be home finally and in front of our fans."
"I think everyone will be looking forward to getting that first snap out of the way," Morse added. "I think just in a regular game, there's nothing more nerve wracking than the National Anthem. The adrenaline's high, the anticipation. Now that might be speculation, and it might just be me, but I think, of course, the fan outpour, no doubt, will be tremendous for Damar and for this team. I think once we start getting into the flow of it, it'll feel like football again, and I think people will be really welcoming that experience."
Meanwhile, the flood of support for Hamlin over the last few days continues to pour in from all over the football community and sports world. Hamlin's GoFundMe charity page, "The Chasing M's Foundation Community Toy Drive" has received a number of donations since late Monday night, with more than $7.7 million having been donated from more than 231,800 donors.
While Hamlin may not yet know the extent of what kind of support he has received, Jackson knows very well what his charity is all about, and is eager to see what kind of reactions he will have with all that money for a good cause.
"I just know he'll be super excited," he said. "Coming from where we come from, that's where he does most of this events and stuff like that. So just coming from where we come from, I know there's a lot of people who aren't as privileged to get the basic stuff. We just did his toy drive, a lot of those kids maybe may not have had toys if it wasn't for that drive. I don't know exactly, but that's just stuff he's willing to do and he wants to do. So I can't wait to see it happen."
McDermott is also looking forward to that moment Hamlin learns of how much support he has seen come in for his charity. It's something that made him take a pause for a moment on Thursday, as he gained his thoughts while battling back tears.
"I'm not a big social media person, but Josh did share something with me via text that he saw earlier today. I looked at it, and it was - maybe you've seen it - about what, maybe, Damar's mom is going to share with him when he when he wakes up," McDermott said. "It's amazing to to know the impact that this has had on so many people. And for now Damar to be awake and his mom to be able to share that with him, it's incredible."
